Bethany W.
Yelp
To preface this review, I am only giving the spa 2 stars for a "luxury spa." It would get 3.5 stars if I were grading it as a regular spa and not taking into consideration what it charges as part of my review (which is really why it gets the downgrade). The spa at the Penisula really solidified for me that overpaying to treat yo' self doesn't mean that the services are going to be any better than had I paid less at a less swanky location.
I booked an aromatherapy massage and a facial to help my friend celebrate her 30th birthday. In all fairness, I should mention that I had never been to this spa before but based upon the rumors I had heard, it was one of the best in the country. I've been to some pretty amazing spas, so my expectations were high. Unfortunately, Penisula's spa did not live up to the hype.
Maybe I'm being picky, but upon my arrival, I felt like things were kind of disorganized and there was not much direction given to clients on what to do. For instance, I was shown to a locker room and told to change, but did I need to leave any undergarments on? Where did I go next? What should I be expecting? How do I get out of this maze? I had NO WAY OF KNOWING.
As for the services, the massage was very, very good, but I have never had a "bad" massage. I have also had equally excellent massages as the one I had at the Penisula for much less. However, I would have gone back to the Penisula had I just gotten the massage. But no, I had to also book the facial. I was super excited to get my grill cleaned out and be told what my problem areas were. Instead, I had a brusque technician who heavily sighed the entire time and even scolded me a few times when I wasn't contorting my body in the right way. There was no warning before a dark quiet room turned into a glaring light directly on my closed eyes covered by cotton swabs.
The worst part, though, was the extraction. Now, I know an extraction is going to hurt, but I am pretty diligent about taking care of my skin - I wash my face every night, use pore strips once a week, slather retionol all over, etc. etc. - so I did not think this was going to be as hellacious as it was. There was no warning, and then she just went to town so roughly that I was afraid she was literally going to break my face. I actually had an entire internal conversation where I posited that this spa must have been a defendant in a lawsuit for a broken nose or cheekbone so I could concentrate on something other than the pain. Then, she gave me some kind of treatment, but she certainly didn't tell me anything about it or why she gave me that particular treatment, which I kind of wanted to know so I could try to incorporate some of the same products to keep my skin healthy.
After our services, my friend and I wanted to have a drink by the pool before our dinner reservations. We ordered a mimosa and a glass of wine. It took 30 minutes. THIRTY MINUTES. We also couldn't sit by the pool because it was littered with screaming children who were also running around the spa with their mothers laughing at how precocious they were. (no.)
Any of the above would have been tolerable if I had not paid as much as I did for the two services I received. I paid $400 for services, and while I do okay, I certainly don't have a money tree to blow on spa services. This was a special occasion and I expected, for that amount of money, for the spa to make it feel like a special occasion. Instead, I felt like I was treated as a customer on a conveyor belt, so lesson learned.
Moral of the story: run of the mill spa with greatly inflated prices. It's a great place to go if you can get a discount or groupon-type special. However, if you want something super luxurious, go elsewhere, and if you want just normal spa services, also go elsewhere. Also, so you don't think I'm a whiny brat, my friend felt the exact same way about her experience, so either we are two whiny brats or this review is legit.